Accelerated brain aging was associated with dementia, addiction, and psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia.

A brain scan can make a person’s brain appear older or younger than their actual age. Across tens of thousands of scans, researchers found that dementia, mild cognitive impairment, alcohol addiction, and psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia were associated with older-appearing brains, although each condition showed a different anatomical pattern.

The findings were reported in the open-access journal PLOS Medicine by Shile Qi of the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics in China and colleagues.